Archive for the ‘Missional Living’ Category
Posted on July 31, 2010 - by Larry - 1 Comment
Intrigued
This weekend I have been in Norfolk, Virginia. I had some great conversations with three pastors in this city. I am very much a novice at what I am about to write but want to learn more about this subject. I am intrigued.
This area is sometimes called Hampton Roads and then at other times it is known by the distinct cities it represents. The area is highly affected by the amount of people in the military that live here. I am intrigued about what ministry looks like in these type of places. I greatly respect these men who are leading their churches to minister to here. Thanks for spending time with me.
My observation:
What a challenge to pastor in an area like this!
What an opportunity to pastor in an area like this!
Potential Challenges -
The transitional nature of the community and how that affects the church.
Building continuity amidst transition.
Caring for families as they are separated due to deployment.
Potential opportunities -
Your church members move all over the world.
Empowering your members to live missionally wherever they are sent.
Being able to minister to the families in the community during times of transition and tragedy.
Posted on June 22, 2010 - by Larry - 3 Comments
The Bench
Normally I use park benches to stop and tie my shoes while on a run or something.
This morning I realized that you can actually stop and sit down on them. What a novel idea for someone to put a park bench in a strategic place. I love living here in Germany. We have a lot of benches where I live. Often they are on top of a hill so after you climb you can sit and rest or I guess enjoy the view.
I realized this morning that I do not stop and enjoy the view enough. As I was walking hurriedly through our town going from one place to the next I noticed a park bench. I decided not to stop though but thought that could be nice sometime.
Then I just a couple of turns later as I was going into another building I noticed another bench. I was beginning to get the hint but I resisted the temptation. All of sudden I started seeing benches everywhere. Maybe we just have more park benches per capita or even more benches than people in our village. I don’t know. I need to research that.
I finally got the hint and just sat down for a bit. It was hard to do. It felt weird. I almost felt lazy.
I did not even tie my shoe. I got out my journal and wrote a few notes but mostly just sat and took a break. It dawned on me that I need to do this more often. I do not have enough “margin” in my life. Margin is unplanned space on my calendar. My life is often too crowded to with stuff going on that I think is important. The thought I had this morning was this.
Without margin I think it is hard for me to live missionally. Without margin it is impossible to find the time to simply “be” and not always “be doing something”. If this is the case then I do not have time for those really cool conversations with my Father and with others around me about Him. I do not have time to just be still and know. I do not have time to enjoy what our Father has created.
Posted on June 15, 2010 - by Larry - 1 Comment
Key Business as Mission Components
I have the opportunity to talk with quite a few of our Skybridge Community members. We are indeed a community in various stages of our journey here in Europe.
• We are pastors looking at this as a viable way to send workers to the field.
• We are marketplace workers looking for a job in Europe.
• We are workers already living in Europe.
• We are cross-cultural workers who are trying to plant churches and disciple people who want to integrate marketplace place workers into our strategies.
I see these five components essential in our community. In the words of a European businessman who is a follower of Jesus recently told me: “Please tell them to find jobs and come to Europe. We need this type of worker here.”
The Sending Church
One of the first things you should do if you sense a desire from the Lord to move to Europe (or anywhere for that matter) and work is to talk to some key people in your church. Maybe it is your small group leader, an elder or a pastor. I believe it is important that you have the support of your church in this endeavor. We love Acts 13 and the story of the Antioch Church. The Holy Spirit called out Saul and Barnabas for His work. The church prayed and fasted and sent them off. The church was part of the sending process. It was not an individual effort on the part of the missionary.
Just as people who serve with mission sending organizations need the affirmation, support and blessing from the church you need the same. Your sending church can pray for you. They can help support your ministry. They can provide you with spiritual and strategic accountability and they will hopefully desire to partner with you while you are here.
The Job
Another key component is finding a job. Perhaps you are already in an international company that would allow you to move to Europe. Most people find themselves trying to find a job in Europe. This is where networking comes in. What are your marketable skills? What job do you currently have? Can you find that same type of job here? Where can you look for a job in Europe? Can you find an international internship? Start a business? This can be a very tough stage in your desire to live overseas. It is rarely as simple as it sounds. It may take a year or so for this to happen, but do not be discouraged. You can take advantages of links that we may post, utilize our discussion board, talk to people already on the ground in the city you are wanting to go to.
Preparing to Live and Work in Europe
I believe the time to start preparing to live overseas is now. Start learning about your city. Start interacting with people who live there. Read everything that you can get your hands on regarding Europe and the country where you are wanting to live. Pray a lot and enlist some close friends to pray with you on this journey. There are also some excellent books and workbooks regarding living incarnationally in your city.
Try out aspects of living that are different then what you normally do. Take the bus. Walk a lot. Shop in “mom and pop” stores. Anything that you can do to put you more in touch with urban living will be time well spent. We also have a section in our site called The Reference Library. We have over 25 downloadable articles for you to read and interact with. We also would love to dialog with you on these on our site. We also can set up a Skype conversation about a topic of your choice. Just let us know how we can help you in this phase.
Local Ministry
One key success factor is for you to be connected to some sort of local ministry or community here in Europe. This could look different depending on where you will be living. We have some cities where we have other Skybridge workers where you could connect with on a regular basis in a missional community (see below). You also may find a local church where you can worship and serve. You may find some cross cultural missionaries that you can work with in starting small groups or churches. Whatever the Lord leads you to do we find this local component a essential to life overseas.
Missional Communities
While Skybridge is a virtual community in many ways, we do have some places where our members come together to pray, for accountability, to encourage one another and to work together on projects in a local setting.
We also have two retreats a year where you will have the opportunity to gather together with other Skybridgers from throughout Europe where we can share ideas, learn new skills in living missionally, pray for one another and encourage one another.
Posted on May 24, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
member care
We do a lot of things on these trips. Our days and evenings are quite intense. We keep on the go a lot. We log in a lot of miles each day on foot and in the subway.
We also try to go to fun places in the city. We also spend a portion of each day we spend a portion of the day having missional conversations about various topics:
Who lives in the neighborhood?
What does church looks like here ?
What ministries exist in the area and who are they geared towards?
As we have walked around a lot in London we really see the world living here. It is quite amazing.
The opportunities abound here to be a part of planting churches amongst people groups from all over the world.
One of the most interesting conversations that we had today was with a person who does member care with a mission organization. They help overseas workers with a variety of issues. Life overseas can be a challenge. Crisis can happen. Stress can take it’s hold. After all you are not living in your home culture. Member care workers provide a lot of necessary help to missionaries and missionary families. They are valuable members of the missionary community.
As I listened to him speak to the group I was also reminded how cross cultural workers need to have sending churches that will help them, pray for them, encourage them, hold them accountable, provide resources, get involved strategically, etc.. I was encouraged later as I talked with several of the pastors on this trip who are saying that their church wants to adopt workers.
More from London soon. Please take a look at a few videos from the trip at www.edstetzer.com.
We also have some pictures from the trip so far on www.theupstreamcollective.org
Posted on March 22, 2010 - by Larry - 3 Comments
The Second Setting
A few months ago I was doing some training at a conference for new cross cultural workers here in Europe. One of the presenters was Jennie Hatchel who works on a team focusing on the Roma people group. You should check out the cool stuff they do here.
She did a presentation entitled “The Second Setting”. As I sat there and listened it really made sense to me. I asked her if she would be willing to write up this idea and you will find it below. As you think about being salt and light in intentional ways this idea should be kept in mind. Enjoy and thank you Jennie for writing it.
In the cloakroom of my children’s preschool, I followed the cultural custom of changing them from their street clothes to their school clothes. As each new parent and child entered, they would say “Good day” to the group, but the only other noise in the room was the hushed whispering of parents encouraging their children to hurry along.
After several weeks I had exchanged little more than a few words about the weather with some of the parents. My frustration grew over my lack of developing relationships. Then, one day while shopping in our neighborhood grocery store, I noticed one of the mothers from my son’s class. I said, “hello” and to my surprise she began to talk. Within a few minutes we had an invitation to visit in her home.
I had a similar experience with the parents at my children’s ice skating class. While we all spent the hour that the children skated huddled around the edge of the rink trying to stay warm, there was very little interaction among the parents. When I spoke to someone, they were polite enough, but their replies were short and I felt like I was really prying if I tried to get to know someone. After about a month of lessons I bumped into one of the ice skating moms downtown. She was friendly and very open. She spoke more to me that day than in the whole previous month of lessons.
It appeared that people were more comfortable with me once they saw me in a second setting. I began observing my interactions with others. On many occasions I noted that others were more open with me when they had seen me in another setting. I mentioned this observation to my husband and he shared similar experiences. He began calling it my “theory of the second setting”.
In the past few years I have been trying to take advantage of this “theory of the second setting”. When I notice someone from my exercise class waiting on the tram stop, I will cross the street in order to “bump into” them. If I see someone at the post offi
ce that I recognize from my child’s swimming class, I’ll chose the longer line just to wait with them and have an opportunity to visit. If I notice someone in the grocery store that walks their dog in the same park as we do, I’ll skip several aisles just for a chance to run into them.
While some of my difficulty in initiating relationships was cultural, the idea that seeing someone in a second setting provides more of an opportunity to develop relationships has cross-cultural relevance. The more someone is exposed to me, the more familiar I become to them. The more familiar I am to them, the more comfortable they are with me. The more comfortable they are with me, the greater likelihood of us developing a relationship.
Have you noticed people are more likely to open up to you when you see them in a “second setting”?
Posted on February 10, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Italy
This was the first time that I have visited Milan and Turino. One thing that we have been talking about as we have traveled south are the similarities and differences of the different cities.
We started our journey in Denmark and now we are in France after visits in Germany and Italy.
We have noticed several things. One particularly obvious thing for me is the language. It was quite amazing in Denmark at the level of English the Danes could speak. As we went to some more diverse areas of the city where immigrants lived we would find some language challenges but when we approached Danish people they usually did very well in English. I still believe long term workers there would need to learn the language to get into the heart language of the people but for a strategic short term teams then the language issues there could be less of a barrier.
As we moved into Hamburg and Berlin we noticed a more diverse culture and less people who could speak English but usually you could get around and talk to people at some level.
When we moved into Italy and France much of this seemed to change for us. I have countless times tried talking to the people in Italy and France in Spanish when they could not understand English. I usually do well at making mistakes in language situations. Some say it is a gift, or a curse. grin.
Two things that stick out to me apart from language issues.
No matter where we have gone as we have talked with nationals and people ministering cross culturally in these areas the consensus is that less than 2 percent of the people are evangelical.
The second part is no matter how hard we try we cannot be cool enough to make it work here. It is a God thing! Only the Lord can open up the hearts of the people here. I pray He will use us on this trip. I pray the Lord will use churches like The Village to engage Europe. I pray for all of my fellow workers in Europe who are day in and day out living out there lives here and dying to self. I know the Lord is faithful and He alone will sustain you and give you opportunities.
Posted on February 1, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Cross Cultural Church Planting Assessments, part five
I am in cold and snowy Copenhagen, Denmark. I am not complaining. I actually like it. I really think I am made for this climate. It is actually a remarkable place. I have always been fascinated with the Nordic countries.
I arrived this afternoon and toured the city a bit with a guy who will be moving here soon. We are preparing for the group from The Village Church to come tomorrow. We will be looking around the next few days here. Tomorrow we will be meeting with a local church planter and talking to him about his church plant, the Danish worldview.
I wanted to finish the list I have put together on some competencies that I feel are necessary for cross cultural workers. Each time I venture into a new city or culture I am reminded how important these competencies are. Here you go. Stay tuned this week for more post on our trip.
Initiator – The ability to start something from nothing.
Connected to a local sending church – Relationship to the local church (connected) that sent you. I am a big Acts 13 fan! Cross cultural workers need the support from their home church.
A Developer of People – The ability to help develop new believers into mature followers and future leaders.
Flexibility – The ability to have plans changed that are beyond your control and turn it into a win.
Networking Capabilities – The realization that you cannot do it alone and that you need to be able to discover and partner with various people, networks and organizations.
Posted on December 11, 2009 - by Larry - 1 Comment
Dependence
Today I am writing from Ukraine. This is my first time here. Though it is not extremely far from Southwest Germany it is a very different culture and way of life here.
I arrived yesterday at about 2:30 pm after about a one hour wait in line at passport control. It was already getting dark. Grey clouds. A little snowy. I have only met one person from the Ukraine that speaks English. Even the words on the signs are hard to read. The words are in Cyrillic. I was able to guess at some of the letters since they reminded me of Greek.
I had dinner with some workers who live here and then I was dropped off at the hotel. Again, no one that I tried talking to spoke English.
- I do not speak Russian
- I have never been to the city
- Signs are all in Ukrainian and I do not recognize the letters.
- Not many English speakers
- Dark when I arrived
- In a hotel not knowing anyone
What do you do?
Are there some “first things” you do when you arrive to a new place?
It hit me this morning again. I hate that I must be reminded of this so much.
Being here reminded me of the total dependence upon the Lord that we must have daily on the field.
More on this city and some things I am learning later but this post is about something that should be an automatic for me. We need to be dependent on the Lord. There is something about going to a foreign place and not knowing how to do anything that makes you stick pretty close to the Lord. It does not have to be this way. I need to daily depend on the Lord regardless of where I land. Sure there are some “first things” that I need to do when I arrive in a new place that can help me learn the city and culture but the realization is that I need to depend upon the Lord.
What do you do when you land in a new place?
Posted on November 20, 2009 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Tres Amigos, part 2
On my last post I talked about three of my friends here in Europe that really teach me a lot by just hanging around them. I hope you can learn from them as well as I tell a little more about the way they live their life.
They are spiritual conversationalists – They get into spiritual conversations early on. They seldom wait for several months to get into these conversations. They have an urgency about them that is important. They have learned from past experiences that they need to get into these conversations earlier rather than later. The bible is a natural framework for their conversations. They know how to tell story. They know how to give a timely bible reference. They know how to apply scripture. They do not do is in an unnatural way. They have a keen sense of timing that I believes comes from being led by the Holy Spirit. What really amazes me is that these guys can do this in several languages.
They are not always the hero of their story – These guys are not afraid of talking about their failures and mistakes. They are transparent. They are people on a real spiritual journey not afraid to tell about what the Lord is teaching them in their lives. They exude a sense of humility about them that is contagious.
They believe in the importance of prayer – Prayer is not just several times a day in a quiet place. Prayer is an on-going conversation for them. As you are talking rather deeply and sharing life with one another it is quiet common that they will pray for you as you talk. Rarely do these guys leave you without either saying “ how can I pray for you” or they simply pray for you before you depart. They also have a sense of touch. If the timing is appropriate they will put their hand on my shoulder and say their prayer over me. I think we often downplay the importance of touch in our ministry. Have you ever studied how our Lord Jesus used “touch” in his ministry?
More soon.
Posted on November 18, 2009 - by Larry - 3 Comments
Tres Amigos
I am thinking of three friends here in Europe who really exemplify what it means to live missionally in a cross culture setting. My next couple of posts will be devoted to these guys. Now if you know who I am talking about you are not allowed to blurt out their names. I cannot name them due to security reasons but I hope if they read this they will be encouraged for they make a tremendous impact not only on my life but on the life of many others.
Thank you guys for helping me live life to the fullest. Think you for modeling for me how to live my life as salt and light in this world.
I have seen these traits as they have talked with me. I have also seen these as they talk with people they meet for the first time. It can be followers of Jesus or not yet followers or Jesus. They tend to treat people the same. To me they know instinctively how to live missionally.
Here are several things I am learning from them.
They are Fully Engaged – I am the only one they are talking to. I get the sense that I am the most important thing they are doing at that time. They give full attention to the conversation. They are not multi – tasking. They are looking me in the eye. They are not looking for other people to talk to in the crowd. They are asking questions. They are fully engaged in our time together. They are not looking at their watch. They are not looking forward to the next thing. They are living in the present. I wish I could be more like that.
They ask Open-ended questions – When you talk to these guys they are not asking you simple “yes and no” questions. They ask open-ended questions. You cannot help but go deep in conversations. You are talking deeper than news, sports and weather. Though at times we do talk about Sports and news. We only talk about weather as it may interfere in our running or other outdoor activities. The point here is that you are getting to core questions that you have to think about and have an opinion about.
